Warren, two cops sued by ex-assistant city attorney

A former Warren assistant city attorney is suing the municipality and two of its police officers, claiming he was a victim of false arrest and malicious prosecution of drinking and driving.

Jeffrey Michael Schroder, who worked as an assistant on the city's in-house legal staff for nine years, claims in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that the commander who arrested him in January 2009, Sgt. Stephen Colegio, lied in reporting that Schroder failed sobriety tests.

In September 2009, a district court jury that deliberated approximately 15 minutes acquitted Schroder of first-offense drunken driving and impaired driving.

Colegio is the husband of Councilwoman Kelly Colegio. She previously worked as Warren Mayor James Fouts' administrative secretary.

Kelly Colegio and Schroder were close advisers to Fouts while both worked at city hall. According to the lawsuit, she accused Schroder in 2008 of being responsible for disparaging remarks about her posted in an online forum.

Colegio allegedly shared her suspicion with the mayor.

"Plaintiff did not make the disparaging statements, was not directly or indirectly responsible for the disparaging statements, and denied being responsible when interrogated by Mayor Fouts," the lawsuit states.

Schroder, 36, asserts that Fouts accused him of being responsible for other anonymous postings on the Internet or being linked to the person who operated the site.

In January 2009, Schroder scheduled two vacation days to go to Las Vegas but both were canceled by Fouts because the mayor suspected the trip was a pretext to visit the Internet domain company for the website in Arizona "in order to destroy, remove and/or sanitize any evidence of the author of the disparaging statements," according to the lawsuit.

Schroder said Fouts later attributed the "conspiracy theory" to Kelly Colegio and felt he had no choice but to cancel the vacation time to prevent "mischief" by the then-assistant lawyer, the lawsuit states.

"Plaintiff, who was not responsible for the disparaging statements to begin with, had no such sinister purpose in making a trip to Las Vegas; the sole purpose of the trip was rest, relaxation and enjoyment of earned vacation time," the complaint, filed in federal court in Detroit, states.

In his lawsuit, Schroder says he met with Public Service Director Richard Sabaugh, a key administrator and mayoral advisor, in January 2009 but rose from his chair and left when Fouts abruptly entered the room. He said the mayor subsequently announced at a regular meeting of approximately 30 city administrators that he doesn't trust people who leap from chairs when he enters the room because such individuals have something to hide, and ordered that staffers are not permitted to leap from their seats when he enters.

Schroder said Fouts summoned him to a meeting later that week but was ordered to hand his cellphone to Colegio before stepping into the office. The former assistant attorney charges that Fouts demanded a copy of Schroder's cellphone records. He complied, but refused to let Fouts show them to Colegio.

On Feb. 13, 2009, Schroder was pulled over by Stephen Colegio on northbound Van Dyke, just north of Eight Mile Road. Schroder, with a fellow city employee as a passenger, admitted that he consumed alcohol and was told by the sergeant that he was "all over the road."

Because of "escalating events" with Fouts and Kelly Colegio, Schroder activated an audio recorder application on his iPhone, which he concealed in his hand.

Patrolman J. Booms, the other police defendant, arrived at the traffic stop. The vehicle he was driving was equipped with a video camera. Schroder claims the video showed he was not staggering and that he recited the alphabet without hesitation or errors. He refused to take a preliminary breath test and was arrested.

Breath tests administered at the Warren police station showed that Schroder's blood-alcohol content was .07 percent and .08 percent. Schroder requested to undergo a blood test, which was administered at a local hospital.

Schroder was released from custody the morning of Feb. 13. Later that day, Fouts announced Schroder had been arrested for drunken driving and was suspended without pay.

The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office issued a warrant on March 10, 2009. Former Macomb County Sheriff's Deputy Terry Blount, who is considered an expert in police procedures in dealing with suspected drunken drivers, was hired by the defense as an expert witness. Blount reported that Schroder's arrest was "fraught with discrepancies and improper procedures," according to the lawsuit.

Schroder alleges the defendant Warren officers violated his Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure and accused them of arresting him without probable cause and for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. He seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for suffering embarrassment, indignation, anxiety, mental anguish, humiliation, shame and loss of income. He resigned from the city in November 2010.

Schroder declined comment when reached by The Macomb Daily on Thursday and referred a reporter to his attorney, Jay Schwartz. A phone call to Schwartz was not immediately returned.

Asked for his response to the lawsuit, Warren City Attorney James Biernat told The Macomb Daily: "We haven't been served with it. Frankly, not having been served with it, I think it would be inappropriate and imprudent perhaps for me to make a comment on it."

Biernat was not the city's chief lawyer at the time of Schroder's arrest and suspension.